Members of the Seau family leave Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla after visiting Junior Seau at the hospital on Monday.
— Eduardo Contreras

CARLSBAD  Former Chargers star Junior Seau drove his SUV off a 30-foot coastal bluff in Carlsbad and was hospitalized with minor injuries Monday morning, hours after being jailed for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend.

Seau, a 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker, told police at the hospital that the one-car crash happened when he became sleepy.

The story about one of San Diego’s most popular athletes lit up the Internet and led to speculation he may have tried to commit suicide.

Seau’s ex-wife, Gina Seau, said those reports were false. She made her comments soon after she and the couple’s three children visited him in the hospital. She repeatedly said the crash and arrest were not related.

“He would never try to harm himself or anyone else,” Gina Seau said. “He’s fine. He’s emotionally upset. No, he’s not even emotionally upset. He’s going to get through this, and he’s going to move on.”

Oceanside police arrested Seau, 41, about 12:20 a.m. Monday after his 25-year-old live-in girlfriend reported that he assaulted her at their home on the south end of The Strand, Lt. Leonard Mata said.

Police had been called to the house about 10:15 p.m. Sunday after the woman said Seau assaulted her during an argument, Mata said. She suffered minor injuries and did not require medical treatment, he said.

Seau was not at home when officers responded to the domestic violence call, but he returned after talking to them on the phone. He was arrested and booked into the Vista jail on suspicion of spousal assault with injury. At 3:20 a.m., he was released after posting bail.

At 8:42 a.m., he was driving a 2004 Cadillac Escalade south on Carlsbad Boulevard near Solamar Drive just past Palomar Airport Drive when the SUV veered toward and plunged over the cliff.

The front end of the Escalade hit the rocks, flipped around and ended some 30 feet down the embankment, said Carlsbad police Lt. Kelly Cain.

Seau was alone and conscious when rescuers arrived and helped him out of the vehicle, Cain said. It’s unclear how fast the SUV was traveling, but Cain said it appears to have been moving at a “significant speed.”

Officers did not observe any symptoms of drug or alcohol use, but they requested a blood sample be taken for testing, said Lt. Paul Mendes. Investigators do not suspect Seau was suicidal, he said.

The morning rain had subsided and the street was dry at the time of the crash, Mendes said.

Gina Seau said she didn’t talk to her ex-husband at the hospital about how the crash happened, but she said he wouldn’t hurt anyone, including himself. The couple divorced in 2001. Gina Seau said he had never hurt or threatened her during nine years of marriage.

A lawyer for two San Diego women who sued Seau in 2006 for taunting and throwing drinks at them at the downtown Side Bar said the weekend allegation against Seau wouldn’t surprise his clients.

Attorney Steve Wickman, who represented the women who reached an undisclosed settlement with Seau in 2007, called the new allegation against Seau “a sad situation.”